In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of active shooter type attacks, with over 275 occurring in the United States between 2000 and 2018. During that period, over 800 people were killed and nearly 1,500 were wounded by active shooters. Of those active shooter incidents, a very high percentage occurred in schools, businesses, and other public places. Concurrently, construction techniques used to build schools and similar buildings have shifted from a traditional concrete block construction for not only exterior walls but also interior walls, to a less expensive form of construction using studs and drywall. While newer construction methods have many advantages over concrete block construction, they do not provide the same level of protection against active-shooter attacks as concrete block, which is significantly more robust than studs and drywall.
The Department of Homeland Security lists three accepted reactions to active shooter attacks, which are often taught to students, faculty, and administrators. The first and most desirable response is to evacuate if there is an accessible escape path. If no such path is available, the next most desirable response is to “shelter-in-place” or “hide out” where the active shooter is unlikely find that individual. The third, least desirable response is to take action against the active shooter. This should only be used as a last resort, when that individual's life is in imminent danger.
The Department of Homeland Security offers the following instructions for sheltering in place: find a hiding place that (1) is out of the active shooter's point of view, (2) provides protection if shots are fired in the direction of the hiding place (i.e., an office with a closed and locked door), and (3) does not trap the individual or restrict the individual's movement options. If the active shooter is nearby, the following recommendations apply: (1) lock the door, (2) silence cell phone and/or pager, (3) turn off any source of noise, (4) hide behind large items (i.e., cabinets, desks), and (4) remain quiet.
There are products available to fortify a building by integrating ballistic barriers into furniture, millwork, walls, and doors. However, those solutions are expensive and often require significant construction investment to implement.
One of the most important elements to finding a safe place to shelter in place is to hide in as secure a place as possible. However, as described above, particularly in newer schools, even if people were to hide in a locked classroom, bullets could potentially penetrate the door, walls, and/or windows. Movable barriers have been developed that provide some protection, while also serving as whiteboards, corkboards, or other useful things, but the current solutions are not able to be combined into a continuous barrier that may be configured to form a hiding spot that, with the exception of a roof, is completely cut off from the rest of the room.
As such, there is a need for a movable barrier that can be deployed quickly to create a protected area from an active shooter that either enters the room or fires through windows and/or walls.